TFL Painting Challenge: First Entries for 2016

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There are some of you obviously determined to start the TFL Painting Challenge 2016 off with a bang!

Already we have entries from:

  • Sapper, with four (yes, four) submissions already
  • Mervyn Douglas, with more for his Sudan collection ("they don't like it up 'em!")
  • Andrew Helliwell, who continues the post-Xmas theme with a platoon of late war Germans put together from the leftovers
  • Ralph Plowman, with some rather nice new figures from the new Moongrunt range from GZG
  • Doug Melville, with some Aeroneuf ships
  • and last, but by no means least, Kev "Fat Wally" Lowth with some lovely X-Wing Star Wars ships

Today's pictures will, I think, all have a sci-fi theme. Here are Ralph, Doug and some of Kev's entries:

Ralph Plowman's figures from the new moongrunt range from gzg

doug melville's aeroneuf submission

some of kev's x-wing models

Remember that you can see all the entries in the various people's galleries.

NB  The scorecard will be updated tonight, once I can load the numbers onto my home PC

TFL Christmas Special Now Available

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First chance I've had to publicise the arrival of the TFL Xmas Special 2015, available as a pdf for just £5 from the TFL website by clicking here.

For those who aren't familiar with the format, the specials are a twice-yearly collection of Lard related articles and features that provide hours of good reading and gaming. Here's what's in this one:

  • Introduction:  A Festive greeting from Lard Island. 
  • Malaya 1942:  A Chain of Comand campaign set in the jungles of Malaya sees an Australian force attempt to delay the Japanese invaders. 
  • Chain of Command Abyssinia:  Supporting the vast collection of Army lists available via Lard Island News, Rolf and Jim provide some tactical notes for the Ethiopian Imperial Guard and the French Foreign Legion. 
  • Now That’s What I Call Magic!  Providing a system of plausible Dark Age magic for Dux Britanniarum and The Raiders. 
  • “The Reccies”: The Reconnaissance Corps has a brief existence between 1941 and 1946. Here we look at their structure, training and how to represent them in I Ain’t Been Shot Mum and Chain of Command. 
  • The Swan: A mini-campaign for use with I Ain’t Been Shot Mum and the Reconnaissance Corps set in late 1944 as the Allies drive North through France and Belgium.
  • The Devil’s Garden: A Western Desert scenario for Chain of Command using the Reconnaissance Corps lists.
  •  The Roundwood Report:  Sidney quizzes Rich about movement in wargaming and chats about the forthcoming Sharp Practice v2.
  •  Painting German Camouflage: Ben Fiene dips his brush into the complex world of German Camouflage patterns and provides some great easy to follow solutions.  
  • Chain of Command:  Undead ParanormalSid Bennet presents a thought provoking approach to Zombies and how to make your opponent’s hair stand on end when he thinks he’s playing WWII.
  • Division Azul: Alfredo Vitaller, Anibal Invictus and Julio Martinez of Club Dragon in Madrid present this guide to the Spanish Blue Division, lists of Chain of Command and a scenario
  • Mrs Slocombe Rides Again:  Fat Nick tells a Christmas Tale which should probably never be told.
  • Going with the Floe: Building Ice terrain for the North Pole. An idiot’s guide. Literally. 

TFL Painting Challenge: Huge 31st December Update!

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Looks like everyone has made a huge effort to get their last minute entries in under the wire.

In no particular order we have:

  • Doug Melville with a couple of Cold War vehicles
  • Koen with some Frostgrave figures
  • Mr Helliwell with some more of his late war Germans
  • Mr Hodge makes a welcome last minute re-appearance with some Spanish Guerillos
  • Jim Catchpole sends in a huge multi-scale submission: his first and his last for 2015!
  • Mervyn Douglas has moved to the Sudan
  • Joakim whacks in a quick witch
  • Sapper also makes a welcome reappearance with loads of 28mm figures
  • The Mad Padre also adds vast numbers of figures to his collection
  • Matt Slade sneaks in another couple of submissions
  • Paul Blankenship pops in another of his huge micro-army entries
  • Paul Baldwin slides in with loads of 28mm figures
  • Nils Hedglin with some dwarfs and halflings (not half points though)
  • and finally Leif (spelt correctly!) isn't left out, with some fine 28s and a few bigger still

Pictures for what may be the final post of this year's challenge? A mixed bag...

Mr Hodge's rather fine Spanish Guerillos

Some dwarves from Leif

Sapper's SYW French Currassiers du Roi

 The Mad Padre's 20mm Revel Krupp Protze truck with AT Gun

TFL Painting Challenge: Bank Holiday Update

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Huge numbers of figures have obviously been painted over the Christmas break. Here are today's submissions in the run-up to the end of this year's challenge:

  • Joakim with some pulp and nativity figures (yup, I did say nativity)
  • Andy Duffell adds some very nice terrain to his collection
  • Jason Ralls just manages to finish twenty-four 28s and a host of little Gauls
  • Matt Slade has obviosuly had a busman's holiday, submitting tons of new painting: most of it pulp and VSF
  • Geoff Bond adds some cowboys and priests
  • Dave Humm adds some fantasy figures
  • The Bowler Hat finally finishes his WOTR collection and previews his next project again: the Romans
  • and finally Pedivere sends in some more of his excellent Foreign Legion

I was tempted to have today's picture being Joakim's nativity figures, but it's the 28th and the moment has passed. Here are Pedivere's resting legionaires, Jason's Gauls, and Matt's Amazons.

Still a few days to get your entries in!

15% Off Sale at the TooFatLardies

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For those who need to buy some more Lardy products (cough, my scenario books, cough*), Rich is running a 15% off sale over at the main TooFatLardies webstore. You can get there by clicking here.

Not sure how long the sale will last: Rich says until he's finished the Xmas Special...so Easter then!

*all my scenario books are updated for IABSMv3...and if you don't fancy them, there's always Q13!


Gebirgsjaeger: 15mm Opel Maultier

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Earlier this year I added Waugh Games to the list of WW2 figure manufacturers. If you remember (assuming you follow this blog fairly regularly) I ordered three Opel Maultier from them at the bargain basement price of £2.50 each: under half the cost of the Battlefront equivalent. I've now had a chance to paint them up, giving my Gebirgsjaeger a bit of additional transport.

So, how did they turn out?

The first thing to point out is that they come with a HUGE base built in i.e. on one side of the truck the base sticks out at least an inch; on the other, at least a centimetre. I'm not sure why they come like this, but they do. Here's the picture from their website that shows what I mean.

The other thing the picture shows is the holes in the resin: you can see a big one on the door, and lots of little ones in the main body's wooden panels.

Well, I could do something about the bases - snapping them off to a decent distance from the tracks wasn't too difficult - but I decided to ignore the resin bubble holes: far too fiddly to fiddle with.

A black undercoat was followed by an all-over coat of a medium dark grey. I then dry-brushed the canvas top in a lighter grey, then  dry-brushed both canvas and body with white. The windscreen and other glass was dark blue and then my (only slightly successful) attempt at a glare effect. The tracks were my usual gunmetal covered with flesh wash. Here they are:

As you can see, the resin holes aren't really significant: they just look like wear and tear. The bases are still a bit thick, and aren't very even...but that won't show on the tabletop either. The only real disappointment is the bit between the tracks and the main body paneling: there's a big resin bulge that looks like, well, a big resin bulge.

In all, however, not bad for £2.50 a time. The old adage that you gets what you pays for has certainly held true! 

 

TFL Painting Challenge: 22nd December

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I'm settling nicely into my Christmas holiday now: no work until the new year!

Here's today's patch of painting challenge entries:

  • Mr Slade sends in a pic of some very familiar looking figures
  • Lloyd 'the hat' Bowler finishes off his WOTR collection with a couple of command stands, and starts up the Ancients with a unit of Romans.
  • Carole pops in a couple of hover tanks
  • Mr Plowman also adds some sci-fi goodness, with some Clear Horizon robots
  • and, finally, Mr Helliwell manages another 30 Panzergrenadiers

Today's pic has to be Matt's familiar, but unavailable, figures:

Well, there is one more entry to come. Treadhead has submitted a picture of his brand spanking new games room. I can't score this for the challenge, but I can include the pic here:

Very nice!

Still plenty of time to get your entries in for the challenge. Doors don't shut until midnight on the 31st!

TFL Painting Challenge: Wednesday update

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It's been a long time since I've needed to do a mid-week update, but the weight of entries now coming in demands it.

Mind you, a lot of them come accompanied by a note that says "this will be my last entry this year...". Rubbish, I cry, plenty of time between now and the new year to get something done!

Anyhow, in no particular order, we have:

  • Mr Naylor with some 28mm sic-fi and some desert scrub
  • Andrew Helliwell with some 15mm German tanks
  • Jason Ralls with his usual eclectic mix of subjects
  • Dave Humm with a few 25's and a bit of terrain
  • Mr Luther with more 6mm 'planes than you can shake a stick at
  • Stumpy stomps back into things with a mix of painted and re-based figures. Loving the Russian/Afghan stuff!
  • Carole enters some more sci-fi figures for Q13
  • Chris Stoessen squeezes out some civilians
  • Mr Burt has painted lots of little ships, all of which look very fiddly indeed!
  • Joakim sends in a mix easily as eclectic as Jason's
  • and, finally, Mr Douglas submits some skeletons

Today's pictures?  Well, see below...

Stumpy's Russian air Ambulance

Stumpy's Russian air Ambulance

Carole' hover bikes

Carole' hover bikes

Steve Burt's little ships

Steve Burt's little ships

Scorecard will be updated today or tomorrow, once I can get to it on m home PC.

Sarissa's 15mm Factory

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Sorry for the lack of updates over the last few days:  been horribly distracted with real world affairs.

Anyhoo, to get back into the swing of things, here's a quick post showing my latest 15mm building for anything from WW2 right up to sci-fi: Sarissa Precision's factory.

The factory is mainly a single building with a nice roomy inside. There is a walkway halfway up one wall, and the windows and doors are made from heavy card stuck to the inner walls: nicely robust. There a small powerhouse plus chimney on one side, and the kit comes with a steps-and-gantry walkway that leads to one of the doors portrayed on the upper floor.

Now this is quite a challenging kit to build, but the instructions are excellent and easy to follow. It's just a bit fiddly in places, and I don't really do fiddly! The result, however, is definitely worth the time and effort. The outside looks brilliant, even with my rather crude paint job, the gantry is a very nice touch, and the inside is amazing. That walkway is surprisingly easy to build, and will provide a nice little fire step.

On the whole, highly recommended.

TFL Painting Challenge: Early Friday Update

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I'm making sure I keep ahead of the end-of-year rush here!

Today we have submissions from:

  • Matt Slade with an epic re-basing project and some Kobolds
  • Nice to see Carole back with some Stargunt sci-fi figures
  • Ralph Plowman is also back, with a handful of 28's
  • Mr Douglas, who rarely misses a week, has some more ancients
  • Koen sneaks in a couple of 28mm squads
  • and Mr Helliwell adds to his vast numbers of Confederates

Today's pictures are from Ralph Plowman and Carole. First up are Ralph's marines/sailors from the late 19th Century:

And here are Carole' sci-fi figures for Q13:

Just twenty days to go to get your final entries in for 2015.

New Chain of Command Markers Available

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News that the Lardies have released a new set of markers for Chain of Command. I'll let Rich tell all...

"Two of the things  we are regularly asked for are a set of Patrol Markers and a set of Jump-Off Points for smaller figures such as 20mm or 15mm.  We thought it would be a great idea to kill two birds with one stone and, in partnership with our chums at Warbases, we have produced sets of eight markers for both the Axis and Allied forces.  Each set contains four robust MDF Patrol Markers with either the Allied star or German Baltic Cross.  The four Patrol Markers are 5cm diameter circles and four smaller jump off points are 3cm diameter.  Both are in 3mm MDF laser cut and etched for each painting.

"Here’s what they look like “naked”.

"I decided to slap a bit of paint on my own sets.  I went with a black undercoat for both before applying Vallejo Russian Uniform Green to the Allied ones and Middlestone to the Axis ones.  I then added some camouflage to the German one before detailing the Allied Star in white and the Baltic Cross in black.  The German one then got a yellow rim to make it stand out on the table.  On reflection, I think I might do the Baltic Cross in white and maybe replace the yellow with a bright red.  Early War Panzer grey would be a nice look too.  Part of the fun is deciding how you like yours!

"The best news is that both the Axis and Allied sets are now available on the web site for just £3 each.  Now, there’s a stocking present for you!"

You can buy the Allied marker set by clicking here.

You can buy true Axis marker set by clicking here.

TFL Painting Challenge: Quick Update

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Things are certainly hotting up as we draw to the end of another year's challenge.

Today's entries are from:

  • A first entry of the year from Mr Skelton, proving that it is never too late to enter!
  • Now under full steam, Koen smashes in another series of submissions
  • Messrs Yuengling and Luther fill in a few gaps in their galleries
  • Lloyd adds in some more WOTR figures and teases us with a test figure for his next project
  • and finally Mr Duffell sends in some more WW2 28's

Today's pics? As it's almost Christmas, you get three today: it's got to be the Hat's command stand with hand-painted banner, and then Andy's 28's, and then one of Koen's entries.

Plenty of time for everyone to get their entries in BTW. This year's challenge doesn't end until midnight on the 31st. Come on! Get to it!

IABSM AAR: Les Attacques

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Vaggelis has begun playing his way through the Defence of Calais scenario pack, beginning  with scenario #01:  Les Attacques.

It is May 1940, and with British troops being evacuated from the beaches at Dunkirk, the ancient port of Calais stands on the critical western flank of the Anglo-French lines. In a desperate bid to shore up this flank, Churchill has committed the British 30th Infantry Brigade to defend Calais to the last...

Click on the picture below to see the full AAR:

IABSM AAR: Action in the Far East: Ban Sadao

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Cracking game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! at the weekend, with a scenario from the Fall of the Lion Gate scenario pack.

See if the British can stop the Japanese advance into Malaya at the village of Ban Sadao. Click on the picture below to see the whole report.